it is friday, february 15th, 2013. welcome to "cbs this morning." nightmare over. thousands of cruise ship passengers finally reach land. you'll see why the final hours were the toughest. and the sky falls on russia. a meteor rips across the horizon, raining debris, shattering glass, and injuring hundreds. the risk you could face from reverse mortgages. and sally field tells us how she nearly missed out on her oscar-nominated role. but we begin this morning with today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds.

>> the shocker from out of space. >> hundreds hurt after a meteor rains down on russia. >> leaving several buildings shaken and damaged. >> almost 1,000 miles east of moscow. >> up to 400 people may have been injured. >> hours before a 150-foot-wide asteroid is supposed to pass by. >> hug your loved ones, have them close and listen to some arrow smiktd. >> i'm glad to be out of here. >> the pleasure cruise that went very bad is finally over. >> first of all, sorry, carnival, for taking your bath robe. i figure they owed me. >> he murdered his girlfriend. >> there are reports she was shot through the bathroom door. >> a rare filibuster.

>> i hope one democrat will look at chuck hagel's record and reconsid reconsider. >> just when you thought things couldn't get worse, it's worse. >> christopher dorner is dead. using his dental records, they were able to identify dorner's body. >> a former mayor gambles away from 2000 through 2009 playing video poker. >> all that, you go through the preparatory -- >> so you prepare for the sunday shows. >> yes. >> and all that matters. >> that plan -- every once in a while, have some quiet time. time-outs. >> what did you get mrs. boehner >> on "cbs this morning." berkshire hathaway is buying the heinz ketchup company for

$23 million. >> his plan is to turn the company upside down and then just wait. captioning funded by cbs welcome to "cbs this morning." charlie rose is on assignment, so james brown is with us. this is a live look at the carnival cruise ship "triumph" finally docked in alabama. we'll show you the video and outrage and comments from executives in just a moment. first, astonishment from russia this morning. >> a ten-ton meteor crashed across the sky. it crashed and injured thousands of people. >> it landed in a mountain range near a famous soviet nuclear weapons site. mark phillips is in london this morning. >> good morning. they got an eye opener about 900

miles east of moscow this morning. it was a skyful of biblical proportions, a sky full of fire and brimstone. you've got to see it to appreciate it. this is morning. a cold dawn sky and then this. some of the noise came from sonic booms caused by meteor fragments traveling faster than the speed of sound. but other explosions seem to have come from impact. or you're drivinging to work and you see this. or you're teaching in your classroom and -- or hearing the commotion, you look out your apartment window and then -- the onslaught caused damage to widespread buildings and some people. several hundred were hurt, many due to flying glass and debris.

there are several theories as to what happened. a russian emergency ministry spokesperson said there had been a meteor shower. others said this was all the result of one big meteor. one witness was a canadian hockey player now living in russia and he said he never saw anything like this on the rink. >> i was terrified. i had just hit the snooze bar on my iphone for another nine minutes of sleep and all of a sudden, you know, i fell back asleep and i hear this loud bang. i live in a 24-story building on the 23rd floor, and all of a sudden i look up and the lights are shaking and i hear car alarms going off. it was just incredible. >> it's one of those places where weird stuff happens. it was a major weapons manufacturing center in the old soviet union days with a history

of contamination. meteor sites weren't going to affect them. it was as large as a bus traveling at an estimated 33,000 miles an hour. so this morning henny penny was right, the sky was falling. >> he's really cool. >> i know. he says they're used to weird stuff happening, but 33,000 miles an hour. >> unbelievable. i wonder how the fragrantments got through the frictional heating. unbelievable. >> unbelievable. >> dr. michio kaku will talk with us later and we'll talk about being safe ahead on "cbs this morning." and now that cruise that was anything but triumphant. the 4,200 people are finally on dry land after a five-day ordeal at sea. >> many of the passengers drnlt leave the ship until after

midnight and then had to spend hours more by bus, and even then there was more trouble. anna werner is at the cruise ship in mobile, alabama. good morning, anna. >> reporter: good morning, j.b. and norah. that right. the ship came in around 9:15 last night, but for many of the passengers who were finally able to leave that ship, they describe a nightmarish voyage, one that none of them wants to ever repeat. thousands of passengers erupted into cheers thursday night as the crippled "triumph" finally pulled up to dock. as they stepped onto dry land and into the armed of loves ones, some couldn't contain their excitement. >> i'm really thankful to be back. >> reporter: kendell jenkins said she won the trip in a contest but said it was light more like a floating po

port-a-pot port-a-potty. >> no ships were coming. no boats were coming. we saw no helicopters. it scared us because we thought the ship isn't notifying or getting known come out and help us. >> reporter: it took more than a day before the first tugboat arrived. as passengers got cell reception, they sent photos revealed squalid conditions, sewage seeping through the floors, plastic bags used for rest rooms, camp tents on deck and sprawled out down below. some lost contact with their family. >> there was about three or four days we couldn't call anyone and they couldn't call us. >> reporter: many passengers hailed the on board crew as the real heroes. >> they did unthinkable things that employees would not do with a smile on their face.

they were unbelievable. >> reporter: it took 7 million hours to drag a massive ship on thursday. on thursday the ceo jeremy cahill addressed reporters. >> we pride ourselves in providing guests with a great vacation experience and clearly we failed in this particular ship. >> reporter: he then boarded the ship and spoke to passengers over the intercom. >> i know how difficult this week has been and i can tell you i'm extremely sorry for all the frustration and discomfort you had to feel. >> reporter: some demanded answers. >> why did it take so long for us to get home. that is difficult. >> reporter: carnival chartered busses to take people home. at least one of those buses became stranded on the way to new orleans. passenger jacob combs called cbs this morning to say his bus was sitting by the side of the road as he waited for yet one more rescue. well, he and other passengers

finally made it to new orleans but many of those buses didn't arrive until 2:00 in the morning and their journey is not over. they still have to take charter flights to houston today. other people -- a few had their relatives pick them up in mow bee, and some of them went to hotels and checked in just to get some rest. they'll probably figure out where they'll go and how they're going to do it today. back to you. >> anna werner, thanks. the nightmare is over for the passengers but might just be starting for carnival. peter greenberg is with us this morning. first let me ask you about this ceo of carnival. some critics say he's not done enough. will he take some blame for t this? >> he probably will. mickey arison, he went to a basketball game the other night. the ceo kept a low profile after

the "costa concordia" more than a year ago. it will be interesting to see how much he'll take from this. >> keep in mind you've got over 3,000 passengers on a ship. many have cell phones. they're citizen journalists. they're going to begin to share those photos worldwide. >> tell us what the passengers' rights are in this situation. >> remember, when it came into port, it was not only meant by the u.s. public health service, coast guard, a few officiaoffic there may be lawyers on board. they have to prove those damages. obviously their trip was interrupted, canceled. they didn't get what they wanted. carnival attempted to give them a full refund of everything they did and what they bought except for the gift shop and the casino and just yesterday they threw in an additional $500 and free cruise ship going ahead.

they're trying to do what they can. remember that doing all that actually resulted in chartering 50, 60 buses, one of which broke down in new orleans. it was not a pleasant trip certainly even when they got to shore. >> it certainly added insult to injury with the bus breaking down, peter. do you think this affected the cruise industry? >> carnival took a hit last year with the "costa concordia." carnival is the largest cruise line in the world, 75 ship, many different brands. what you're going to see are serious discounts in the next two to three months. you know what? the cruise ship industry is in harnltly safe. nobody's died on the ship. if you see a big discount like

that, you might want to take it. >> discounts notwithstanding, i can't imagine anybody taking advantage of that. >> i know. people are scared, elderly people especially. >> and it's encouraging that the crew did everything they tried to do to make the five numbing days at sea more barable. >> i'm sure they had a tough time taking care of all the passengers. to another potential catastrophe, we're two weeks away from massive spending cuts. and congress, guess what? they're taking next week off. they're leaving the fate of chuck hagel hanging in the balance. nancy cordes is on capitol hill. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you, norah. they're going to have to deal with those cuts right away. they're very steep. almost no one around here likes them, they were never supposed to happen, and yet they're leaving town. >> the halls of congress cleared out quickly last night.

>> how can we leave for recess when we're so close to a sequester? so close to what could possibly have shut down the government. >> it's spread out over 10 years that will start to kick in march 1st. both sides say the cuts are arbitrary, damaging, and bound to kill jobs, but instead of negotiating to replace cuts, that ire impacting them. >> we can -- if they're willing to pass a bill, we'll find some way to work with them to address this problem. >> the sequester will hit the military hardest. $46 billion alone. about 8% of the budget. but they headed home without dispute. former republican senator chuck haig >> we need a secretary of defense on the job.

no one, no one knows, especially any united states senator, what foreign challenge will face this country perhaps in the next ten d days. >> reporter: republicans say they still have questions about his policies, income, and qualifications for the job so in a rare move they filibustered him for the job. >> this time we can and must do better. >> reporter: republicans say they probably will allow haig toll get confirmed when they come back from recess. democrats say if that's the case whierks not just confirm him now? this was supposed to be panetta's last day on the job but he said he'll stick around until a new secretary jof defene is picked. prosecutors in south africa

say it was premeditated and more serious charges are coming. the track star known as the blade runner openly cried in court this morning and emma hurd was in court. >> reporter: oscar pistorius broke down in tears, his father trying to comfort him. they've brought in their top prosecutors to handle this case. it's setting the stage for real courtroom drama here. it was a return to the global stage for all the wrong reasons. the world famous athlete before a south african court charged with murdering his supermodel girlfriend. reeva steenkamp was shot allegedly by oscar pistorius.

it looked like a valentine's day gone wrong but something more sinister. they're now obsessed with the south africa golden boy. the secure gated compound in pretoria where pistorius lives is protected. michael sokolove, a writer for "the new york times" received a surprising invite during his time,er er. ing a story in 2012. >> he said, hey do, you want go to the firing rank and shoot guns. i'm a writer, i followed him, and we went to the firing range and we shot his 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol. >> reporter: with oscar pistorius as with so many others before him, guns may have proved to be a deadly hobby. emma hurd, cbs news, south

africa. in u.s. today they will not send military support. france will lead the fight in mali. right now they provide transportation and diplomatic report. "the washington times" says the u.s. is looking for places to test drone aircraft that could eventually be used in this country. 30 states say they're interested. they the wall street jrnl looks at the racial gap in men's sentencing. the sentence for black men were 20% longer than for white men committing similar crimes. it's the latest in a string of blockbuster mergers in corporate america. and "the washington post" looks at how fish behave on medication. a new study finds perch that

were exposed to anxiety drugs displayed anti-social behavior. researchers want to understand the pharmaceuticals that end up >> announcer: this national weather report sponsored by big lots. if you want big savings, then you want big lots!.

federal regulators promise a crackdown on tour bus safety saying too many operators are a potential danger. >> they do have records, but yet they aren't addressed until after that fatal accident. we see that time and time again. >> we'll investigate an industry that's had five serious accidents since christmas. and who gets the million-dollar reward for finding christopher dorner? the answer could be no one. we'll show you why. plus, a new eye implant could allow tens of thousands of

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cnn has been on the case, for some reason giving this boat crisis [ bleep ] wall-to-wall coverage, treating the cruise ship like it's the shackleton expedition. >> we can at least visually connect you to the daughter you have not seen in seven days.

>> yeah. you're not heroes, guys. it's not a hostage situation or a baby in a well. you've reconnected them? they weren't